Frederick Denkmann
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Frederick Denkmann (April 8, 1821 – March 2, 1905) was an American lumber baron based in
Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Arsenal Island. The population was 37,108 at the 2020 census. Located on t ...
. He teamed up with his brother-in-law Friedrich Weyerhäuser and formed Weyerhäuser-Denkmann Lumber Company.


Biography


Early life

Frederick Carl August Denkmann was born in Salzwedel in the
Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
, present-day
Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making i ...
,
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and immigrated to the United States. He was a skilled machinist and worked for Buford and Tate Foundry in Rock Island. He also owned a small grocery store that was operated by his wife Catherine. In 1860 the Mead, Smith and Marsh sawmill in Rock Island went bankrupt. Friedrich Weyerhäuser who was married to Catherine Denkmann's sister Sarah, had worked at the mill. The mill was seized by the sheriff and put up for sale. Weyerhäuser convinced Denkmann to go in with him and buy it for $3,000, with a $500 down payment.


Weyerhaeuser-Denkmann

The Weyerhaeuser-Denkmann Lumber Company immediately became successful after Denkmann improved its production methods. Production doubled from its previous year’s capacity of 8,000 board feet per day. Denkmann worked long hours to insure that the machinery was in working order. He nearly drowned in the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
trying to save logs that escaped from the boom, which is a holding pen for the logs on the river. On another occasion he lost two fingers in a planer. Denkmann was reported to have had his hand tied up, placed in a sling and was at work in the mill the next day. While Denkmann focused his attention on the mill, Weyerhäuser—who was a natural salesman—took care of the commercial aspects of the business. Denkmann and Weyerhäuser were able to expand the mill and added more machinery. They also bought a second lumber mill that was renamed Anawalt, Denkmann and Company. They signed a lucrative contract with
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for 950,000 board feet of lumber. They went to the white pine forests along the Chippewa River in
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for a new source for wood. They were among 17 lumber companies that formed the Mississippi River Logging Company in 1872. They would harvest the timber in the north and send it to the mills along the river in log rafts. In one day in 1896 a record 64 rafts passed under the Government Bridge between Rock Island and
Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and ...
. The longest recorded raft was sent down the Mississippi that same year. It measured 1,560 feet (475.5 M) by 296 feet (90 m) and covered of water. It was powered by a sternwheeler named the ''F.C.A. Denkmann''. Fire destroyed the Anawalt, Denkmann mill in 1876 and caused an estimated $40,000 in losses. They built a new mill on the same site and acquired the troubled Keator mill on 24th Street and added it to Anawalt, Denkmann in 1878. Denkmann and Weyerhäuser formed a new corporation for the two mills and called it the Rock Island Lumber and Manufacturing Company. Ten years later the two companies, Weyerhaeuser-Denkmann Lumber Company and Rock Island Lumber and Manufacturing, employed 1,000 men and had $175 million in annual sales. In 1885 they bought the Renwick, Shaw and Crosset Company mill across the river in Davenport. On July 24, 1901 the mill, along with the Lindsay and Phelps mill, the Roberts woodyard and a section of southeast Davenport was destroyed in a fire. Denkmann raced across the Government Bridge with extra fire hoses to help put out the fire. The fire destroyed , left 250 people homeless and caused $1.25 million in damage. Denkmann and Weyerhäuser had two other companies fail. A flour mill in nearby Coal Valley, Illinois, and a woolen mill in Rock Island were both financial failures.


Death

Frederick Denkmann died in 1905 at the age of 82. The lumber mill in Rock Island ceased operating on November 18, 1905, six months after his death. By this time Friedrich Weyerhäuser had re-located to the
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where he had recently established the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. While Denkmann was still alive the two gave substantial amounts of money to build the
Rock Island Public Library The Rock Island Public Library is located in downtown Rock Island, Illinois. The Rock Island Public Library traces its beginnings to 1872, making it one the oldest public libraries in Illinois. However, fee-based public libraries started in 1855 i ...
. After he died, Frederick Denkmann’s children donated what is now known as Denkmann Memorial Hall to Augustana College in Rock Island. The building served as a library from 1911 to 1990. It now houses the college's foreign language departments and other offices.


''River of Life'' window

After Frederick Denkmann died he was buried in a
mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...
in Rock Island’s Chippiannock Cemetery. On April 5, 1976 the cemetery superintendent Joseph Vogele discovered that the mausoleum had been broken into and a stained glass window by
Louis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
was stolen. The thieves were never caught, but the window was located in
Jamaica, New York Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springf ...
, in the 1990s. It was eventually returned to the Denkmann family in 1997 and a Tiffany glass conservator was hired to repair a couple of cracks in the window in 1999. It is now on permanent loan to the
Figge Art Museum The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region. The Figge works closely with sever ...
in Davenport.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denkmann, Frederick 1821 births 1905 deaths People from Salzwedel People from the Province of Saxony Businesspeople in timber People from Rock Island, Illinois Weyerhaeuser 19th-century American businesspeople